Robotics experts at the Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory just taught an old war machine some new tricks, namely radiation detection -- a timely acquisition of knowledge, for sure. Swapping out rocket launchers and machine guns for a suite of radiological sensors, digital cameras, and a GPS device, this modified TALON will be used to map the radiation levels (and create a visual output) surrounding the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The newly modified TALON landed in Japan just last week, joining an existing team of robot helpers already in use in the disaster area, including two additional TALONs equipped with sensors that can identify more than 7500 environmental hazards. Guns for Geiger counters seems like a good trade to us; check the video up top to watch the 'bot try out its treads.

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Sat, 16 Apr 2011 23:58:00 -040021|19915070http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/01/april-fools-day-roundup-google-overload-edition/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/01/april-fools-day-roundup-google-overload-edition/http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/01/april-fools-day-roundup-google-overload-edition/%3Futm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%23comments
Ah, April 1st. It's that time of the year again when the internet is rife with odd news and pranks. As before, news sites like us end up with a healthy stream of tips throughout April Fools' Day (thanks, by the way), so let us round up some of the best findings for your comedic appetite. Contenders include the usual suspects like Google and ThinkGeek, the former of which dominating the gigglesphere this year with some new "features." We also have some interesting submissions from Hulu, a font company, and probably plenty more to come as the day progresses, so keep watching this space as we add new entries to this post. Right, let the fun commence after the break.

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Fri, 01 Apr 2011 07:17:00 -040021|19899656http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/10/army-brings-armed-robots-home-from-iraq-over-control-issues/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/10/army-brings-armed-robots-home-from-iraq-over-control-issues/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/10/army-brings-armed-robots-home-from-iraq-over-control-issues/%3Futm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%23commentsAlthough other countries have deployedgun-toting robots and there's no shortage of companies trying to develop weaponized bots for Uncle Sam, it looks like the first test of actual killer robots in battle has ended in a whimper: the Army's TALONSWORDgunbots, are headed home, after being plagued with control issues. Yeah, that's right -- control issues. Apparently it was too hard to prevent the Army's gun-equipped robot from moving its gun "when it was not intended to move." Reassuring, no? The Army doesn't sound too enthused about another go-round, saying, "once you've done something that's really bad, it can take 10 or 20 years to try it again." Ouch. On the plus side, at least that's 20 more years before we're all put to work in the mines, no?